Barcelona, Spain, Dec 3 – Sergio Ramos’s stoppage-time equaliser maintained Real Madrid’s six-point lead at the top of La Liga as the European champions salvaged a 1-1 draw at Barcelona in Saturday’s El Clasico.

Luis Suarez looked to have breathed new life into the title race when he headed home the opener from Neymar’s free-kick eight minutes into the second half.

Neymar and Lionel Messi then passed up huge chances to add to Barca’s advantage, and the hosts were made to pay when Real captain Ramos met Luka Modric’s free-kick with a powerful header to stretch Madrid’s unbeaten run in all competitions to 33 games.

“I have to once again highlight the heart of this team, they believed until the end and got the draw which is important,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

Lucas Vazquez went down under Javier Mascherano’s challenge, but referee Carlos Clos Gomez waved play on.

Barcelona enjoyed the majority of possession, but with captain Andres Iniesta left on the bench on his return from a two-month injury layoff, lacked the creativity to break down Madrid before the break.

At the other end the spotlight was on Cristiano Ronaldo more than ever in the absence of the injured Gareth Bale and following allegations of grand scale tax avoidance published by a series of European media organisations on Saturday.

The Portuguese came to life towards the end of the first-half as he had Madrid’s first shot on target that was turned behind by Marc-Andre ter Stegen eight minutes before half-time and the German stood firm to deny another driven Ronaldo effort moments later.

– Suarez strikes –

However, Barca started the second-half on the front foot and got the goal they badly needed to kickstart their title defence when Neymar’s free-kick from the left found Suarez somehow unmarked to head home from point blank range.

Iniesta was then introduced to a hero’s welcome and teed up Neymar for a huge chance to seal the three points 21 minutes from time.

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